This invention relates generally to the production of a rapidly or instantly reconstitutable leguminous comestibles and more particularly to improved methods of manufacturing a dehydrated bean product so that the reconstitutable product formed by the process is more simulative in terms of texture and color to the actual non-reconstituted product.
In the field of food preparation services and more specifically Mexican restaurants and/or Mexican fast food restaurant services, the use of refried beans is widespread. However, conventional cooking methods for preparing refried beans generally consume a long period of time, on the order of a few hours, and require a high level of culinary skill in order to consistently produce delectable refried bean products. Because of such lengthy preparation time, consumers typically are reluctant to prepare such products for family consumption while fast food services and restaurants are unable to quickly respond to the highly fluctuating consumer demands of the food industry. Furthermore, because of the wide variation in the culinary skills of the food industry worker, it is difficult to guarantee or maintain the same level of consistency in the cooked product. Although the use of canned refried beans products has proven useful for residential family applications, the use of such canned products in the food service trade has not been wide spread due primarily to the high shipping and warehousing costs associated with canned products as well as the difficulty in opening and disposing of the canned containers. Therefore, there is a distinct need for instant or reconstitutionable leguminosae food product such that a high level of culinary skill is not required to prepare the product and the product conforms more quickly to the demand that the restaurant has at the particular instant of time.
Despite recent gains in the art of producing quickly reconstitutible food products, there still remain inadequacies in the presently available methods for producing such products. Foremost of these deficiencies is the inability to produce a reconsitutable food product which closely assimilates the color, taste and texture, i.e. organoleptic characteristics, of the actual non-reconstituted product. In addition, the prior art processes for preparing reconstituted products have generally proven costly thereby preventing the widespread commercial use in the home as well as industry.
Presently available instantizing processes (i.e. processes for producing a reconstitutable bean product) can be broadly segregated into one of two methods or a combination of both. One method is to mill the beans or food products down to a small size. Common milling practices in the art generally include a micropulverizer or a pinmill. The prior art methods mash the leguminosae or bean product through a finely sized screen mesh by rotating hammers and incorporate a blower which aids the passage of the comminutive food product through said screens. These screens range from a number 70 sieve/number 80 sieve to one-quarter of an inch between the screen wire mesh sizes. As a result, the food product is substantially reduced in size to decrease drying and reconstitution time. However, there are inherent deficiencies in this method.
One such deficiency is that the resultant product does not have the asthetic characteristics of conventionally prepared refried beans. The food products so processed do not replicate the texture of conventionally prepared refried beans because of an inherent grittyness or graininess in the resultant end product. This objectionable texture is believed to be the result of the food fibers or insoluable protein pieces being cut during the comminutive processing, leaving sharp edges in the food particles which are not found in conventionally prepared refried bean products. Prior art attempts to better simulate conventionally prepared bean products to date have been directed toward milling the larger particles separately and remixing the same with the finer mesh dried product in an amount of about fifteen percent in order to try and achieve a more realistic eatable type feeling. Another problem with this type of prior art process is the fact that a considerable amount of energy is used by the grinding process which invariably increase the overall cost of production of the product.
Furthermore, because of the high frictional heat involved in the milling or grinding process, the food product moisture level of three to seven percent moisture by weight of the food product results. A moisture level of seven to ten percent is desired to effect production economies. However, it has been found to be economically unfeasible to re-add the three to four percent moisture by weight to the milled product. Thus, this prior art method of producing reconstitutable leguminosae does not resolve prior art processing deficiencies.
The other general prior art method utilized to produce such reconstituted products is to explode or rupture the beans by rapid pressure changes in the cooking environment. In this second prior art method, the leguminosae are initially cooked under high pressure and temperature within a pressure cooker. The food product, upon completion of the cooking process, is discharged into a container at ambient temperature and pressure in a manner providing almost instantaneous pressure release. By this method, the moisture contained in the bean product instantly turns to steam upon release and rapidly expands. As a result, the leguminosae expands and ruptures in a manner similar to that which occurs in popcorn kernels, whereby the individual beans and bean pieces are ruptured with interstices formed within the leguminosae, resulting in a decreased reconstitution cooking time and a decreased product size to facilitate in the drying process. However, by this prior art method the larger bean pieces still require an inordinate drying time which therefore additionally requires a milling of the larger bean pieces. Thus this prior art method is still subject to the deficiencies of the earlier mentioned milling process. Furthermore, by this explosive procedure, there is still an amount of fiber and insoluable protein resulting in objectionably detectable grittiness and graininess. Thus, this second prior art method generally does not transverse the previous asthetic and organoleptic deficiencies found in the prior art. Examples of such prior art methods are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,088,741 issued to Stephens; U.S. Pat. No. 2,343,149 issued to Krause Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,657,999 issued to Rauch; U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,558 issued to Kobayashi; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,840 issued to Lathrop.
As such, there is a substantial need in the art to provide reconstitutable leguminosae product which possesses decreased cooking or reconstitution time, can be more economically produced, and when reconstituted, closely simulates the texture and appearance and organoleptic characteristics of conventionally prepared leguminosae food products.